Education insurance allows parents to insure their child’s future with confidence.
Insuring a child’s education journey is crucial in today’s world, where nothing can be taken for granted. Education is a complex and continually evolving process and many advisers and their clients continue to have questions around keeping a child’s future covered. As advisers, we want to know that even if our clients were to pass away or be left unable to earn because of illness or disability, their kids will still receive the education they need. We speak to Liberty’s Kresantha Pillay, Head of Risk Products at Liberty, who helped design some of the features of Liberty’s highly regarded EduCator benefit.
Q: Let’s start at the beginning, what is EduCator?
A: Basically it’s an insurance benefit that pays the costs associated with a child’s education, from creche all the way up to university level. It assists a family should the breadwinner pass away or be diagnosed with a covered critical illness, or become permanently disabled, for example.
Q: A child’s education is a long journey for many parents. To many it seems like a big commitment to take out cover for this period of time….
A: It certainly is a big commitment, which is why we’ve introduced EduCator Xtra, which includes a cashback feature. This cashback feature allows parents access to much needed money when the child turns 18. So this feature can go a long way towards setting your child up as they embark on their next chapter.
Q: Do you have to take EduCator Xtra as part of a broader package of insurance cover?
A: No, EduCator Xtra can be purchased as a standalone benefit. However, we always encourage financial advisers to discuss a client’s unique holistic financial risk needs to ensure that if something happens they are fully covered in every conceivable situation.
Q: Let’s talk about overseas tertiary education. Does EduCator cover this?
A: Yes, this is one of the key features of EduCator. We do recognise that many parents aspire to have their children attend an overseas university. Our EduCator benefit has always covered a wide range of international schools. However, emerging trends made us look at offering cover beyond the well-known institutions. EduGlobal currently covers a far wider range of universities from 55 countries, so parents have a great deal of choice.
Q: Emigration is a reality. What happens if a child is in claim and the carers decide to go overseas?
A: Our EduCator benefit is flexible to accommodate our clients’ realities pre and post a claim. Depending on the choice of cover selected, we will cover the majority of international universities and schools up to the maximum benefit limits.
Q: How easy is it to take out cover like EduCator?
A: EduCator is highly adaptable, it is designed to meet any parents ambitions for their children. It’s designed so that advisers can offer client’s the most individual solutions possible, with cover that gives them the confidence to plan for the future they want.